Faire Topper
by KJay99
Summary: SPOILERS. Takes place after the Renessance Faire and the adventures with Claire and Artie's emotional speech. Please do not read if you do not want to be spoiled. Time for the gang to start acting like a family, starting at the top.
1. The Following Day

**This is what I think was needed at the end of the episode about the Renaissance Faire. **

**There are major *spoilers* in this- so if you haven't seen the episode, please don't read.**

**Ok- spoilers start here-**

**This is after Pete and Steve went to the Faire, and Claudia found Claire, then put her back, and Artie had his emotional speech about being a family and not doing anything alone. This starts the day after that happened.**

**After all of the emphasis on family, I thought that it was about time that they started acting like it, starting at the top.**

* * *

The old Warehouse supervisor was lost in thought. Artie's intelligent brown eyes reflected his thoughts. They were normally as over active as his quick mind, but now they blankly stared off at nothing. Long seconds passed with his brain wrestling with the handful of major issues that he had at the Warehouse before he finally stirred.

Artie sighed. He had to admit that no solutions were coming to him today. He straightened his green jacket, then his glasses and checked his paper agenda on his desk. A little grunt of surprise escaped his when he saw that the Energy Bowl of Calypso was due to be drained. With all of the work replacing the Dark Vault, and then with the chaos of Claudia's sister, Claire, being woken up, he had gotten behind. Artie shook his head ruefully. That was an adventure that almost ended badly when Myka absorbed the artifact energy that Claire had and almost killed him and ruined every artifact in the dark vault. If only Claudia had asked him first. His eyebrows bunched with self-doubt; maybe if he had told her about Claire sooner, the result would have been better.

The old man ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back on his neck, trying to relieve the stress that he felt collecting there. The bottom line was that no matter what he did or didn't do perfectly, he still had work to do. He signed again, preparing himself for the dangers that draining the bowl presented. Artie stood and went to his roll of maps on the side wall. Pulling down a rolled map showed him a world map and energy lines that ran through the globe. He reviewed the most powerful collection sites; Machu Picchu in Peru, Serpent Mount in Ohio and others, then let his fingers trace over the man made lines in the earth that help to channel the globe's energies to those sites. He went from Machu Picchu, through the Nazca Lines to the midwest of the US, then north through present day Canada and east to Stonehedge, then down south to the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Artie searched his memory, his clever eyes darting back and forth. He let out an, "Oh." and grabbed for a marker. Practically jogging across his office, the portly supervisor scanned his bookshelf and grabbed a seemingly random ancient looking book off of the shelf. He flipped through it as he darted to his white erase board.

"No, no..." He mumbled as he roughly flipped through the pages of the book. "No." A little more forcefully as he grew frustrated. But the next page was what he wanted. "Ah! There you are. Now..." Artie referenced the book as he scribbled out a formula on the white board, filling in the numbers as he went. He rubbed his eyebrow as did a quick calculation in his head, wrote out more numbers, crossed one out, carried the one, then reduced the result. His graying head tilted a bit as he stood back to view the results through his round glasses. Artie mentally converted his result to a calander day, looking to the side and taking a breath as he did his mental math. His untrimmed eyebrows jerked up when his mental figuring calculated that the bowl was actually over due to be drained.

As if confirming his suspicions, the Warehouse itself trembled. Artie looked up at the dust falling from the rafters. "All right, all right, I hear you. I've been busy lately!" He griped to the building that was so much more than a normal building.

Artie snapped the cap back on the marker, tossed it to the side, then grabed his bag, and started throwing supplies into it. He circled the office once before grabbing his Farnsworth from his desk. Suddenly, he hesitated. Memories of the recent conversation with Myka and Claudia came back to him. They both hid things from him and, as a result, they both went through things that he had hoped to spare them. The truth was that all three of them did things on their own, when they didn't have to. The old man's eyes started to moisten when he remembered his emotional stance that he took stating that no one was to do things alone any more.

Blinking away emotions that threatened to bubble up within him, Artie opened the Farnsworth but hesitated. He ran his fingers through his hair, debating hard about involving anyone else in this touchy task. His eyes harded in resolve only a second later. Decided, Artie punched the black button on the Valdo device.

The annoying buzz sounded and sounded and sounded. Artie threw his tesla into his bag before glaring at his unanswered Farnsworth. He punched the button again, ending the call. Artie turned the dial and punched the button again. The device buzzed twice before Myka's face appeared on the little round screen.

"Yeah Artie?"

"Where's Claudia?" Artie snipped. He realized that he sounded more aggressive then he intended, so he licked his lips and tried to relax.

"I think she's in her room." Myka said, looking up the stairs at the B & B. "Want me to get her?"

Artie's eyes squinted, showing him thinking again. He reasoned that Claudia was involved in her music; headphones probably on, and that's why she didn't hear her Farnsworth. After she and her sister sang when they returned Claire to her coma, he reasoned that they shared a common interest with music. Didn't he remember that one of Claudia's guitars belonged to her sister? Artie figured that she might be playing it, trying to keep that connection with Claire. After all, he figured, it was a lot to handle for the kiddo. Not only finding out that Claudia's sister was still alive, but also the discovery that an artifact, through her sister, killed her parents. The old man's eyes turned sad. He tried to protect Claudia as long as he could from all of that heart ache, and yet, in the end, he couldn't spare her from it.

"Artie?" Myka's said, seeing her boss get thoughtful. She knew better than to think that he was distracted, only considering things that she coudn't see.

He snapped back to the conversation. "Yeah." He saw Myka looking at him with concern. "Oh, just, Claudia. She's- been through a lot lately."

Myka face showed compassion for him. "She'll be ok Artie. Claudia's tough." Artie gave her a quick nod. "And she knows that she has us. We are a family after all, right?" Myka had a slight smile on as she restated Artie's own point back to him.

In responce, Artie sighed heavilly. After spending years along in the Warehouse, he never considered that he would be considered part of a family, or that anyone would consider him part of theirs. Even so, Artie didn't want to show emotion in front of Myka. His gruff personna wouldn't allow it, even if he was shedding tears on her shoulder just yesterday. "Right." He managed to grunt out.

He adjusted his glasses that didn't need it and scratched his eye as a distraction or maybe to wipe the moisture suddenly there. Artie wondered when he became such a softie. He briefly considered an artifact effect, anything to help explain his sudden attachment to his agents, but he knew that wasn't what was happening. He cleared his tight throat and quickly changed the conversation, "Are Pete and Steve back yet?"

Myka looked beyond the screen of her Farnsworth. "Um, no. Not yet."

"Ok, ok. Go get Claudia, then you two get down here to the Warehouse. I have to-" He hitched up correcting himself. "WE have work to do. Together." He emphasized the last word, referring to his resolution to do things together, as a family.

The meaning wasn't lost on Myka. "Right. I'll get Claudia and be right there Artie."

The old man nodded then clicked his Farnsworth closed.


	2. Calypso Bowl

**Thanks to all those who read, including the ladies of Artie's Angles, and GenevaRose for editing (and correcting the word biscuits), against her better judgement and Lynnutte for continually prodding me.**

**Reviews are welcome.**

***Edit: I added a scene at the end that didn't justify it's own chapter.***

* * *

Draining the Calypso Bowl of the accumulated global energies went worse than Artie had hoped. It turned out that the bowl was fuller than even he estimated and without Claudia and Myka with him, it might have led to disaster on, literally, a global scale. But with the three agents working together, they managed to save the world's day, yet again; all be it more goo covered than any of them would prefer.

The three of them were slogging their way back to Artie's office. Myka wiped goo from her cheek that still remained and Artie's shoes squished with every step. He looked down at his lower half that was covered in the purple goo, a necessary mess to prevent the bowl from over flowing and activating the world's energy collection sites. Claudia had the least on her, owing to Artie shielding her at the last moment, but even she had goo in her hair that happened to contrast fashionably with her red hair coloring.

Claudia followed the others as she picked a piece of goo out of her bangs. "So Artie, let me get this straight. Energy collects in the bowl and we have to empty it every 7 years?"

The old man took a weary breath. He had explain this process twice already. Although he supposed that they weren't really to blame for not understating immediately. It was a complicated and non concrete system. So, he explained once again, "Seven- well, seven to eleven years. It depends on how much energy accumulates along the Earth's power lines and how much energy mostly depends on solar flares and the equinoxes, among other things."

Claudia feigned understanding at the complicated and non specific references. "Oh, of course. All about the equinoxes!"

Myka piped in. "Artie, what happens if the bowl overflows?"

Artie had already explained, in his own way, so he repeated. "The collection sites around the world would become active."

Claudia and Myka exchanged looks of confusion. Claudia grabbed her mentor's arm, stopping him from walking further, "Whoa, wait. Artie, explain 'active'."

"All right." Artie faced them and sighed. "Easter Island?" The ladies nodded, they heard of the massive heads made of solid stones that were moved around the island and were half buried. "Stonehenge?" The ladies nodded again. "The Great Zimbabwe ruins? Mount Kilimanjaro? Well- actually under Mount Kilimanjaro." He shoved his glasses further up his nose, signaling the start of a lecture. "You know, there's these-"

"ARTIE!" Claudia cut him off then characteristically rattled off. "I'm sure we'd all be fascinated at the conspiracy story about the ancient aliens that visited you in the Stone Age. But in the mean time, before I get, well to be your age..." Artie pressed his lips and glared at her. "What happens if the the world's collection sites become active?"

Artie took a calming breath, swallowing his annoyance. He slowly over stated, "Bad things."

Claudia stared at him. "'Bad things'?"

"Artie, like what?" Myka said, more curious, with her head cocked a bit to the side.

Artie pushed his glasses up again and held his hand out flat. "Ok, what happens is, the energy will start flowing backwards from the bowl to the sites and if the sites like the Pyramids become-" He saw Claudia rolling her head back and groaning at the start of a lecture. "Ok, FINE!"

The old man collected himself, barely containing his annoyance. To get them back, he dropped his voice and looked at them hard. "How do you think they were made?"

A second passed. Artie raised his bushy eyebrows as if his statement explained everything, then simly turned and started walking again.

Claudia and Myka just stared at his back. A confused crease formed between Myka's eyes. They glanced at each other then chased after their supervisor only to get a dismissive hand thrown into the air at their calls.

* * *

After they all cleaned up in the office, Artie requiring a full change of clothes, Myka and Claudia were ready to head back to the Bed and Breakfast. Artie tossed his dirty and purple colored Converse sneakers straight into the small washer that he had upstairs then headed down the spiral staircase, toweling his hair as he descended.

Myka said, "Oh hey. We wanted to tell you that we were leaving Artie. We'll see you tomorow?"

The old man nodded. "Yeah. Oh! Be here early. There's-"

"Lots to do!" Claudia finished for him. Myka smiled at Claudia catching Artie saying what he always said. "Yeah Artie, we know." Claudia barely managed not to roll her eyes. She had decided that she was getting too old for that kind of reaction, as much as the old man made her want to do it.

Myka said, "We'll see you in the morning for breakfast then?"

Not expecting the prod for breakfast, Artie looked up at her. "Mm? Oh. I uh-" he became overly cautious. "-will Pete be cooking?"

They all cringed at the idea of it being Pete's turn to cook. He usually made good food, but he would often burn it. Myka suspected that he just was incapable of keeping focused on one task for twenty minutes.

Claudia looked at Myka for confirmation as she said, "I think it's my turn to cook, right?" Myka nodded. Claudia looked at Artie. "How about omlets?"

Artie's eyes lit up. "With scones?" he hoped.

"I'm still working on figuring out Leena's recipie. Besides, your middle needs veggies, not scones." She said, raising an eyebrow at his substantial midsection. The old supervisor turned father figure couldn't hide his disappointment, nor his displeasure at her drawing attention to his stomach, but her concern for him cooled his temper. Claudia added, "Omlets, with lots of healthy vegetables!"

"And cinnamon rolls?" Artie practically begged.

"Biscuits." Claudia countered.

Artie grumbled, but said, "Fine." In a lighter voice, he said, "Guess _I'll_ be _there_ bright and early."

Myka and Claudia exchanged congradulatory looks at not only getting Artie to come to them, but winning a few extra minutes of sleep in the process.

Myka punched in her code and opened the door to exit the Warehouse. "See you in the morning."

"Bye Artie." Claudia said with a wave.

"Yeah. Bye." Artie said as he settled downbehind his computer. He turned around to yell after them, "Be ready at 7!" He heard their voices agreeing as the door closed.


	3. Breakfast A-La-Claudia

**Not many reviews on this story, but for those of you who are reading, keep going the pay off is coming. **

**Hope everyone enjoys. **

**(No, I don't own a thing from WH 13, well... perhaps a prop or two...) **

* * *

The following morning Artie quickly opened the door to the B&B and bursted in, as he always did. He glanced up the stairs, but his nose picked up the smells of breakfast from the kitchen. He inhaled deeply, a hint of a smile coming across his face. He had to admit that he liked Claudia's day to cook. Then again, any day was better than Pete's days.

Artie was greeted with biscuits out of the over as he entered the kitchen. Claudia smiled at him. "Morning Artie. Bright eyed and bushy tailed I see."

"Not 'bushy' enough." He said, going to the coffee pot to get the black stuff brewing.

Claudia grinned at his characteristic grumpiness. She set the biscuits on the counter to cool. "Hey, Artie?"

The old man froze. He knew that tone and it meant that she wanted to talk. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder at the girl. "What?"

Claudia took a breath, making Artie want to hold his. "I just wanted to say thanks for calling me and Myka. Yesterday, I mean." Artie turned to face her, one eyebrow raised in a question. "I mean, what you said, about us being a family, about not doing anything alone anymore..."

He straighted up. "Oh. That. Yeah, I -" He swallowed, then looked straight at her and said, "I meant it. Family."

Claudia smiled. "Yeah. Me too. That's why, just wanted to say thanks for letting us know and you know, not doing everything by yourself."

"Yeah." Artie nodded and waited. He wondered if she was going to try to hug him again, or if the conversation was over. He wasn't really sure. Yet again, he felt old and awkward. He motioned to the coffee pot behind him. "Can I-? Were you going to hug me agian? Or can I- can I make the coffee?"

A wide grin came onto Claudia's face. "Yes, you can make the coffee!" She said as if she were talking to a school child. " And I promise not to hug you."

"Oh, ok, good.." Artie's shoulders slumped with an exhale of tension.

Claudia flipped a large omlet over and transfered the biscuits into a basket. She picked up the basket to put it on the dining room table. As she passed Artie, she leaned into him, whispering into his ear as she passed, "At least not right now."

The old man straightened up and glared at her. But the girl had a playful look and said, "I'll get you when you least expect it." as she left the kitchen.

Artie shook his head. In spite of the early hour, a warm smile spread across his face. He shook his head again at the girl as he set to his task. He was at the sink, filling the pot with water to boil when Artie turned around and ran smack into Claudia.

"Oh! Claud-" he juggled the coffee pot, trying to keep the liquid from spilling but in an instant he felt her weight fall into him and her arms wrapped around his chest. It took a moment to realize that she had already made good on her threat and was hugging him, her chin resting on his shoulder.

In that moment, as always happened, all of Artie's defences melted. He let them go willingly. With his right hand still holding the full coffee pot, he wrapped his left arm around her, easilly able to hold her. Claudia's arms tightened around him in response. It was obvious to him that Claudia needed the physical contact. He knew as much since two days ago in the room that he set up for Claire's case. In in the kitchen, at that moment, no words were needed, nor said. Artie sighed and relaxed, his own tension melting away as he made the transition from being her boss into the parent that she needed.

After a long minute, Claudia pulled away. It tore at Artie to see her eyes wet. He put a fatherly hand on the side of her face, making her smile sadly. "Hey. Are you ok?"

Claudia smiled, feeling a little silly at her show of emotion. "Yeah." Artie wiped a tear that fell down her face with his thumb and looked at her doubtfully. "This whole thing with Claire, and our parents, its... Artie, I never thought that..." Claudia took a deep breath. "Dealing with Claire this week was probabaly the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Artie's eyes reflected the suffering that he saw in his adopted daughter. "I know. I'm so so sorry that I couldn't spare you that."

Claudia shook her head free of his hand. "Artie, no. It's fine. You can't protect me. There are things that I just have to experience myself." Artie let his hand drop at her rebuke.

But the young woman eyes softened at seeing him withdraw. She reached down and grabbed his hand. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I wish you told me about Claire sooner, but... I understand why you didn't."

Vastly releived, Artie breathed out, "I know that you have to experience things for yourself; and I know how capable you are- more capable every day." That made Claudia smile. Artie continued, "But- Claudia, if I can spare you any hurt, any at all, I will." He squeezed her hand.

Claudia smiled at Artie. He said, "Listen, are we going to hug again or- or anything else that you want to say?"

The girl smiled and almost laughed at his characteristic discomfort when getting emotional. This time, she let him off the hook. "I think I'm done. But Artie, in case I haven't said it before, thanks- just- for everything." She smiled a small smile which he returned. "Ok, now I'm done."

"Oh thank God." He quickly lurched towards the counter to dropped the coffee pot on it. Artie leaned over, flexing his hand and shaking out his arm.

"Oh my god, Artie, are you ok?" Claudia had completely forgotten that he was holding a full pot of water.

"Yup, fine, fine. Just, cramping!" He grunted, pulling his right arm out with his left to stretch his cramping bicep.

"Here, give me that." Claudia grabbed the coffe pot and poured the water into the machine, and started it brewing. Then she flipped the large omlet again and removed it from the heat as Artie shook his arm out. "Better?" She asked him, getting a nod. "Good, because breakfast a-la-Claudia is ready!" Claudia grabbed a hot plate to put under the skillet and brought the whole thing out to the dinner table, followed by Artie.

"Myka, breakfast!" Claudia called up the stairs. In a few minutes, Myka, Steve and Pete joined them for a lovely, one might say, family breakfast.

Pete and Steve shared the more amusing details of their case, with Pete embellishing the details and Steve providing dose of reality when needed. They all needled Pete about the princess with the horribly nasal voice.

"That was good thinking; putting the girl in danger." Artie said dryly. He meant it as a compliment and as a rebuke of putting a civilian in direct danger.

"Ah, thank you Artimus!" Pete said with a flourish. "The damsel was in minimal danger, Sir Pete and his trusty Squire, Steve were there to protect her!"

Claudia grinned at Pete's antics, but Steve had clearly had enough of the Renesance Faire. "Oh, I get to be the quire now?" He stood and took his plate to the kitchen.

"A squire is a nobel job!" Pete countered, following him into the kitchen with his own plate.

The rest of the gang followed suit, gathering the dishes to help clear the table. As Claudia started following Myka into the kitchen, Artie stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Ah, Claudia- one second?"

Myka took Claudia's dish with a big sister look. "I'll take that for you Claud." Artie thanked her with a quick nod which she returned as Myka left Artie and Claudia alone to join the antics of the boys in the kitchen.

Claudia faced Artie, "What's up Artie?" She saw seriousness on his face. "What? Artie, what's going on?"

Artie took a breath, considering his approach. "Claudia, you remember how you felt when you first found out that I kept Claire from you?"

"Of course."

"And how you wished that I had told you sooner?"

"Yeah." Claudia looked at him confused, not sure where he was going.

Artie looked at her with resolution. "We're a family. No one does anything alone anymore." He restated his speech from two days ago.

Claudia looked at him a bit sideways. "Artie, what's going on? You're not making any sense."

"Claudia," Artie held out a phone and said softly. "We need to tell Joshua about Claire."

Claudia's face drained and almost went white. She had been so busy dealing with Claire, and wrapped up in blaming Artie, that she had done exactly the same thing that he did. She went two whole days of knowing that Claire was alive without even thinking about letting their only brother know.

"Artie, I-" In that instant, Claudia suddenly dredded telling Joshua. How could she know how he would react? She should really tell him in person. That appealled to her but she admitted to herself that was only because it delayed having to tell him. Suddenly, she had a new new understanding of why Artie didn't tell her about Claire earlier. Claudia really didn't want to tell Joshua about Claire, about the artifact, about their parents' deaths! How could he possibly react well to that kind of news?

"Claudia? Claudia, he should know." Artie's concerned voice pulled her eyes off of the phone that she had been staring at.

The girl shook her head. "You're right." She took a steadying breath. "I should have told him already. I need to tell Joshua about Claire, as in, right now." She took the phone from him.

Artie said, "I went ahead and got a secure connection to his line in Cern." He checked his watch. "Joshua should still be in his office."

Claudia acknowledged the details and dialed Joshua's office. She put the phone to her ear and raised scared eyes to Artie as it rang.

Artie sighed at the tough task that she had to do. He got a chair and invited her to sit in it, "Come on." He held out his hand. "We'll tell him together."

Gratitude washed over Claudia. "Thank you." She almost shed tears as she took Artie's hand out stretched. He led her to the chair, then pulled up one to sit in so that he was facing her. He put an elbow on the table, waiting for Joshua to pick up on the other end.

Claudia suddenly looked at Artie. "Joshua?" She smiled upon hearing her brother's voice. "Hi. Yeah, it's me..." "Oh, the usual, saving the world's day, snagging and bagging, all of that. You?" A moment passed of her listening. "Hey, look, um, Artie said this is a secure line, and I have something to tell you that's Warehousey. Do you, have a few minutes?" Her voice went unnaturally high and she started looking at the floor.

Tucking some hair behind her hair, Claudia reminded Artie of the young girl from years ago. She seemed to falter, and her face crinkled in an emotional frown. "I have to- its about- uhm..."

Seeing her struggle, Artie reached out and squeezed her hand. Claudia looked at him. "Want me to tell him?" He tilted his head as he asked tenderly, his brown eyes soft with empathy.

Claudia shook her head, but held on to him. She took a deep, steadying breath, and closed her eyes. With Artie there with her, she said, "Joshua, it's about Claire..."


End file.
